CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2008 Honda Accord has several serious defects: poor brakes, excessive oil consumption, & uncomfortable seats.
BRAKES: There was a class action lawsuit against Honda in 2010 for premature & excessive brake wear. See our page on Honda's brake problems for more info.
OIL CONSUMPTION: Honda issued a TSB about this in late 2011, claiming it could be fixed through a software update to the VCM (variable cylinder management). There are class action lawsuits pending. See our page about the Accord oil consumption.
UNCOMFORTABLE SEATS: Owners have consistently reported uncomfortable seats with the entire 8th generation (2008-2012) of Honda Accords. Complaints range from back pain to leg circulation problems due to bad lumbar support, cushioning, & seat angle. Complaints aren't limited to only a certain body type -- the seat comfort problems are from a wide spectrum of owner height & weight. The common theme we hear is "we never noticed this during the test drive." Unfortunately for unwary buyers, the seat pain is noticeable after 15-20 minutes.
6.0
fairly significant
Typical Repair Cost:
$4,500
Average Mileage:
34,850 miles
Total Complaints:
19 complaints
Most Common Solutions:
not sure (11 reports)
dealer won't fix it (6 reports)
dealer fixed under warranty (1 reports)
put car into neutral and then back into drive (1 reports)
Complained during warranty period twice but because it is intermittent, dealer could not replicate problem and could not fix it. Occurs only when merging into traffic so its very scary because there are cars all around you and stomping on the breaks slows car down to 50 mph but engine maintains revs of 5000 rpm. Only solution was to throw it into neutral and back into drive.
Just picked up a 2008 Accord EXL with 27,000 miles. After I got it home I noticed when you slow down to make a turn the trans seems confused on what gear to be in. If you apply the throttle too soon it seems like the trans slams into gear. It seems worse when the car is cold. I've driven many different makes of cars over 35 years and have never felt this type of problem. It's like you need to apply the throttle with caution. I will follow up with dealer next week.
- provo61,
Chicago, IL, US
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Honda does not want to take responsiblity. Instead they want you to pay, then file class action suits to get reimbursed for parts only. You end up paying labor money to fix a problem that you did not create!
I am very reluctant to paying them $80 for a diagnostic fee, I have extended warranty and am at 58k miles. It seems sometimes the car will jerk or when I let go of the gas as if brakes are being pressed? Also if I press the gas it might give me a rough shift (took a while to shift). This has started recently since cold weather.
I have owned four Hondas and never had any issues. The brakes went out at 20,000 miles and now I have to replace the transmission at 66,000 miles. The transmission is supposed to last until the car goes to the junkyard. Has anyone else had this issue with their 2008 Accord?
Car doesn't seem to know what gear it should be in. When traveling at a constant speed with constant, same pressure on the accelerator, the car would go from about 1700 RPM going smoothly to 5000 RPM with a jerk and speed up by itself, and then back to around 2200 RPM and slow down. All when I am pushing the accelerator with the same amount of pressure on a flat road. When going uphill, car will go from 4800 RPM to 1700 RPM which again results in a jerk. Car is not smooth and jerks on the highway (once a day) sometimes more than others. Crappy car, worst car ever driven
Have the same problem as everybody else, transmission shifts very sharp from 1 to 2 gear when cold. Then, when coming to stop from high speed driving, about 38 mph I can feel weird downshift. Probably the best way to describe it is that, imagine when you slow down and you are about 38 mph, something is grabbing your car by the bumper, holds it for second and then lets go, it's just weird. The bigger concern I have is up shift from 1 to 2 gear when cold driving. Today, cars are made to start the engine and drive, there is no need to warm up for 10 minutes, that is ridicules ! Dealer had the car twice and of course, they said "unable to duplicate " the issue. Honda can not tell US that this is the one isolated incident, this happens to lot of Honda owners, are we ALL WRONG ?! What, am I imagining things?! This is not my first car, so I think I know how "normal" car drives like, don't we all? I am just furious... I should have kept my Jetta. If my transmission goes bad after the warranty expires, i am going to raise hell !! At least i have two records at two different dealers expressing my transmission concerns. If anyone else has the same issue keep this post alive or send me your story, something needs to be done here ! All I want to have a normal driving car, is that too much to ask ? or, Honda just does not want to admit to the problem ? well... maybe we should all do something about it and raise voices.
This is the roughest shifting car I have driven. My wife had a 1993 Honda accord that shifted pretty rough after we bought it and shortly later the whole transmission went out. I am concerned severely about this car!!!! The worst thing is we took it to honda expecting them to understand and fix it. Instead they said there is nothing wrong and this is how the car is supposed to drive... :-(
last month i driving to smokey mountain so i deriving down hill about 40 mph for hour and i see rpm going up to 4500 so i took to dealer there don .t look at car they say some thing wrong i toll my car rpm going 4500 and he say Honda accord had 4 sensor so is o.k
DCH Honda Dealership Old Bridge, New Jersey won't find problem with my jerking transmission. They play games. Shame on Honda. They lost reputation best quality cars.
but really any body blame it to Japanese cars and wanna back buy American. That's what u get now guys. Honda almost made in USA and Canada, Honda got bad American quality now !!!
Honda finally acknowledged the problem and issued a silent recall. Car was at dealer for seven days, then they had to repair it again as they messed up the 3-4 shift fork. Three more days at dealer and the car drives good as new. Problem started right from the beginning of ownership and I suffered with it for almost a year.
2008 Honda Accord. Hate spending my valuable time logging a complaint...This is my 2nd logged complaint of my internet life.
Too start I must say I am very disappointed in this particular Honda product. Problem/issue ; Transmission delays going into gear. IE. Backing our of driveway, then braking, put car into drive....and it delays for approx. 1 second before going into gear. After backing up and putting into gear, I push the accelerator and the car rev's for a second...the transmission catches (goes into gear) and the car jerks forward. Very awkward and very annoying. Transmission problem #2 - When driving the car in town (at approx. 30 miles per hour) and approaching an avenue turn, I let off the gas to slow for the turn reducing my speed from 30 mph to 20 mph). Once I am 1/2 to 3/4 through the turn I push the accelerator and the same delay/stall happens. Approx. 1 second later the transmission catches and the car surges forward. I have brought the vehicle to the Honda dealership, left it for 10 days (while on vacation) and they claim they cannot duplicate the problem. Yet when I backed the car up (from the dealership) and put it into "drive" the very "delay" problem occurred. I went inside to inform the technician and he explained the engine is constantly monitoring the system for fuel economy and that's why it might be happening. Having worked in marketing for an OEM in my past life I am aware how problems/warranty are handled. Sometimes the OEM company did not want to address the problem due to cost, SOmetimes the product was nearing it's warranty life 7 the OEM wanted to sort of "skte" out of the problem, sometimes they would not address a warranty issue until it hit a "critical stage" (certain % of failures vs. number of units produced...ie 5% failure of production) and sometimes the OEM did not have a fix for the problem so they tap danced until they discovered a fix. In this case I felt the Honda Technician had seen & heard of this problem before and had not been given a fix by Honda Corporate. Whatever the case, there is a problem with this transmission and I am willing to bet I am not the only Honda Accord owner to be experiencing this problem. I have owned several Hondas in my past and been very satisfied....this is why I bought 2 brand new Hondas Accords at a total cost of $60K. By not addressing this problem and leaving me with the inconvenience and hassle I am experiencing....is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. I realize all manufactures have an occasional problem. I don't mind as long as you service and take care of your customer. Don't bury your heads and pretend there is no problem! I understand when people/customers are mad or angry regarding an issue they tend to say things to threaten the OEM/dealer yet they don't follow through with the emotional threat. In this case I am not emotional or angry. I am however, very disappointed in how my problem is being handled. As a result, I am truly going to look at Toyota for my next purchase (my daughter has a Camry and it is a very nice quality car with a few more "nice-ity" features than Honda offers for slightly less money. What's sad about this situation is prior to this problem (and the way it is being handled)....I would not have considered other vehicle brands. Today, I am truly considering another brand. There is no way I will tolerate driving this car for 100,000 miles in the condition it is in. The delay is aggravating, annoying, dangerous and unacceptable......in short, it drives me crazy. Honda....if you are listening, I would suggest coming clean with your issue. If you don't have a fix, let your customer know. I'll be patient knowing the issue will be taken care of once a fix is available. But to leave me hanging, wondering if my warranty will expire prior to you addressing the problem concerns me. Solving my problem is the first step in rebuilding my trust with your brand. Sincerely....a fading Honda customer. (I won 2 Honda Accords, Two Honda Personal Water Caft, Honda Motorcycle, Honda pressure washer, Honda Lawn mower, All Honda motors within my amusement park (28 engines in all), 91 Honda Accord & my son is looking at a Honda Civic for his college days)
I started noticing a problem with the transmission about a month ago. It does not seem to be shifting smoothly into higher gears. Seems like it is staying in lower gear too long. I will continue to monitor. Not sure if this is a real problem. I will be interested to hear if there are similar complaints from other owners or if this is a figment of my imagination.
After driving domestics for 20 years I switched to a Camry and recently an Accord which are supposed to be the benchmark for family sedans. I'm not sure why they're so highly rated....or maybe it's just bad luck for me buying new cars.
For my transmission problem, my Honda dealer told me they haven't heard of any shifting problems with the 2008/2009 models.....but it's obvious that other folks out there are having the same issue.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Should have bought a Solaris, instead of the Accord.
- jamais encore1, fort pierce, US